Work

Introduction: Real-World Evidence in Type 2 Diabetes

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: The International Diabetes Federation estimates that 463 million people are affected by diabetes worldwide, 79% of whom live in middle-or low-income countries [1].Moreover, the number of people living with diabetes is predicted to increase by 51% in the next 25 years and reach 700 million by 2045 [1].The greatest increases will be seen in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central or South America [1].Many of the people with diabetes in the world do not have access to the latest treatments recommended by guidelines for developed countries such as those from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) [2], American Diabetes Association (ADA) and European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) [3].Nevertheless, these individuals in low-or middle-income countries deserve to receive effective and safe treatments, with proven benefits.Randomised clinical trials are important to answer questions relating to drug efficacy and safety under controlled conditions that maximise statistical certainty ('can this product work?').However, because of the strictly controlled conditions of a clinical trial, they need to be supplemented by data from real-world populations of patients to ensure that the findings are generalisable to a wider population of patients ('does it work?')[4,5].Together the evidence from controlled trials and real-world studies provides guidance on how treatments will work in clinical practice.Sulfonylureas represent an important class of agents for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as second-line therapy in patients who do not achieve optimal glycaemic control on metformin alone.Clinical trial data and real-world clinical experience with these agents have been accumulating for many decades.Moreover, these agents are inexpensive with a per-dose cost that is much lower than that of the newer classes of agents such as the sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors

Source: Diabetes Therapy

DOI: 10.1007/s13300-020-00832-y

Authors: Mohamed Hassanein, Aslam Amod, Kamlesh Khunti, Moon-Kyu Lee, Viswanathan Mohan